Being bitten by a viper in Barcelona over the summer left Eva Dameron with a 30 percent chance to live.
If she can handle that, she can handle being the new editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo.
She showed up on the first day in her bathrobe to encourage a fun and comfortable working environment.
“I didn’t want to worry too much on my first day, so my bathrobe is to remind me to not panic and that everything will work out,” she said.
The Publications Board appointed Dameron as editor-in-chief Friday. Dameron replaced Rachel Hill after Hill resigned due to medical reasons.
“I care so much about everybody there and about being there and doing the job,” Hill said. “I deeply regret having to end my time as editor-in-chief at the Daily Lobo. … I know that Eva Dameron and the staff will continue doing their best to make it great.”
The Lobo staff held a forum last Tuesday where they voted Dameron as the preferred candidate for the job.
Dameron has worked at the paper for more than five years in positions including writing, editing and designing. Dameron said she didn’t have plans to apply for the position — it just kind of happened.
Dameron said she doesn’t have a big agenda for changing the Lobo. Things will just happen as they do, she said.
“I kind of just jumped right into it,” she said. “Sometimes if you think about things too long, you get scared. I’m here as more of an editor to sift through and see what everyone’s got… I’ll develop ideas and ways to do things as we go along, but I don’t have a big plan to stamp onto the newsroom right now.”
Dameron said that instead of encouraging the small staff to get all the breaking stories up online before the other news sources, it’s more manageable to focus on what other news sources are missing regarding issues that are already happening.
“We can present things in new lights or just raise certain questions,” she said. “I think that we have a better chance of being special in that way and not necessarily trying to compete with CNN.”
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Hill said she hopes to recover in the coming weeks and still be a part of the paper in some way.
